Saudi Arabia community training programme recognised at CSR Awards

Petrofac Saudi Arabia’s local community training programme was recently recognised at the 2013 CSR Peer Awards in London. The project, which involved training more than 200 young men and women in Saudi Arabia, was selected as one of 12 finalists from more than 300 entries around the world.

At the conference and awards ceremony, Organisational Development/CSR Manager Daniel-Brian Murteza delivered a presentation entitled ‘Saudi females train and enter workforce: dispelling stereotypes, changing perceptions, developing people, and changing lives’

Community based programme

Daniel, together with Home Office Manager Bashar Ghrawi, developed a community-based training programme, sponsored by Petrofac, for around 200 young men and women. The target audience was young, unemployed Saudi people, including 50 young women, some physically challenged.

The training, which was provided by the local Chamber of Commerce, involved taking part in two six-month courses to develop skills for jobs such as Executive Secretary and HR Officer. Following completion of the course, there were job vacancies for those that wanted to enter the workforce and put into practice the skills they had developed.
 
New attitudes

Not only did trainees gain from new job skills and subsequent employment, but culturally-held stereotypes of women were dispelled, perceptions changed and the community gained from the new attitude towards women in the workforce. The programme helped the young women who were physically challenged to develop their self-esteem, enjoy making a contribution to their local community and make their families proud.
Ibrahim Madluh, one of the top performing male trainees on the programme and who was later hired by Petrofac, said: “The programme has provided useful training and really helped change the perception of young women in our local community.
 
Hiring young women at Saudi office

The Petrofac Saudi Arabia office has since hired 12 young women who are currently working at the Khobar operations office in the IT, project controls, organisational development and office/project support departments.

Commenting on the programme and subsequent hiring of the young women, Petrofac Executive Vice President and General Manager of Saudi operations, John Tredger, said: “We are committed to developing local talent and we take every opportunity to do so.  It is a pleasure to see how these young women are using their education and skills to add value to our team.”